Effects of selected mulches and their mulching rate on growth and fruit yield of tomato variety in the southern guinea savanna of Nigeria

Abstract

Field experiment was conducted at the teaching and Research Farm, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso and Niger State College of Agriculture, Mokwa, in 2014 cropping season to examine the effects of mulching on growth and fruit yield of UC82B tomato variety. The experiment had fifteen treatments viz: three mulching materials  (rice husk, groundnut shell and dry guinea grass) and five mulching rates (0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 in t ha^-1) replicated three times. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) and data were collected on plant height, number of leaves, number of flowers, number of fruits and total fruit yield. Data were   analysed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) SAS package and treatment means compared using least significant difference (LSD) at 5% probability level. The results indicated that plants mulched with 15 t ha^-1 at 6 weeks after transplanting   gave the tallest plant height (39.9 cm) and the  least was obtained from the control plot (21.3 cm) at 2 WAT. The mulching rate of 15 t ha^‘1 produced the highest fruit yield (23.30 t ha^-1) while the least was obtained from un-mulched plots (8.13 t ha^-1). Therefore, mulching rate of 15 t ha^‘1 can  be adopted by the farmers to boost food production.